New Delhi: Sixty-seven senior government officials in Pakistan have been suspended and issued show-cause notices for allegedly stealing over 40,000 tonnes of wheat in Sindh province, which had been supplied from Russia. The grain was stolen from government warehouses located in 10 districts, according to a report in Pakistani daily The News.
The suspended officers include 49 food supervisors and 18 food inspectors who allegedly stole the grain with the help of the staff at these logistic centres. This comes amid an ongoing economic crisis and food shortage in Pakistan, which has led to wheat flour prices soaring.
A Russian ship carrying 50,000 tonnes of wheat had reached Pakistan’s Gwadar Port early in March. According to Dawn, Russia is to supply 4,50,000 tonnes of wheat to Pakistan through nine cargo ships in the coming days. Of this 50,000 tonnes, almost 40,392 tonnes has been stolen. The 10 warehouses from where the grain has been stolen are located in Dadu, Larkana, Shaheed Benazirabad, Qambar-Shahdadkot, Jacobabad, Khairpur, Sukkur, Ghotki, Sanghar and Mirpurkhas districts.
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The Sindh Food Department has sent show-cause notices to the accused officials, asking them to explain their position as to why they should not be dismissed from the job.
According to a report, Russia’s wheat imports to Pakistan have increased eightfold due to the supply disruption from Ukraine as the latter country was the primary wheat supplier to the neighbour during 2021-22, with imports reaching 1.3 million mt. According to the Observatory of Economic Complexity (OEC) data, in 2020, Pakistan imported $1.01 billion worth of wheat, out of which $496 million worth of wheat came from Ukraine while $394 million worth of the cereal came from Russia. But experts suggest that the wheat crisis is more due to distribution bottlenecks than supply constraints.
Punjab and Sindh are two of the most wheat producing states in Pakistan and due to the ongoing food crisis, wheat flour has been selling between PKR 145 per kg and PKR 160 per kg in the two states. Pakistan is currently facing a net wheat deficit of 2.37 million metric tonnes, which means the country is producing less than it needs to meet its domestic needs. This year, the Pakistan government had announced it will import 2.6 million metric tonnes of the cereal.
(Edited by Anurag Chaubey)